[deleted]
The tech sector might be evil
11–20 of 233 posts
Re: The tech sector might be evil
#12[deleted]
Re: The tech sector might be evil
#13What sucks is I can't just tell my friends "you're working for an evil company -- just look at {insert 5 evil things they did in the past couple years}". It sucks even more that these are some of the kindest and most caring people I know, with better moral character than myself -- I almost feel they somehow got brainwashed into their jobs. But who would enjoy hearing that? At best they would ignore it; at worst you'd…
If you're a friend, you won't try to control them. Debate in search for truth; admit you might be the one who's wrong. Especially to yourself. But never control. That's a philosophy that bit me hard when I didn't follow it, so just trying to pass it along. I think techies are far too used to wielding power. Assume for a moment that the world is evil. What now? Historically, the answer was "Accept it." The idea that w…
[deleted]
Re: The tech sector might be evil
#14best sentence (slightly reformatted):
"Twitter is not actually a company, it’s a dysfunctional
non-profit that accidentally provides a valuable service."Re: The tech sector might be evil
#15Earlier quoted context omitted.
Is every single job at those companies really making the world worse in a way that other jobs aren't? How about all the technologies and research that have come out of specific teams' work?
I don't know how to respond to this. If you're a software engineer with a typical role at {insert "evil" company here} who is just trying to do the best in their role, are you making the world a better or a worse place? It's not like they're making the product decisions (and that's what I've been telling myself -- they're not the ones making the decisions; they're just implementing them), but it's also not like they…
That sounds very much like the "just following" orders defence, also known as "Superior Orders". More details @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superior_orders
Re: The tech sector might be evil
#16Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you're a friend, you won't try to control them. Debate in search for truth; admit you might be the one who's wrong. Especially to yourself. But never control. That's a philosophy that bit me hard when I didn't follow it, so just trying to pass it along. I think techies are far too used to wielding power. Assume for a moment that the world is evil. What now? Historically, the answer was "Accept it." The idea that w…
Yeah, nothing is exactly what I've been doing so far. I'm just wondering if that's really the best I can do.
Well, that sort of begs the question: Why did you feel you could do anything in the first place?
It sounds like a dopey question, but it's at the root of a lot of these feelings. I used to feel similarly to you: a general sense of malaise, a discomfort with the world, a plan for doing something concrete to change it.
But everyone has limited ambition. If you don't focus it like a laser, you won't get anything done. Then suddenly your time is gone.
I suppose my point is, relax and enjoy yourself. Choose whatever goal you really care about, and focus on that one thing. What Facebook does was never up to us in the first place. Besides, they're far less evil than Microsoft was at its peak. America isn't so bad right now.
Re: The tech sector might be evil
#17Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't know how to respond to this. If you're a software engineer with a typical role at {insert "evil" company here} who is just trying to do the best in their role, are you making the world a better or a worse place? It's not like they're making the product decisions (and that's what I've been telling myself -- they're not the ones making the decisions; they're just implementing them), but it's also not like they…
That sounds very much like the "just following" orders defence, also known as "Superior Orders". More details @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superior_orders
Yeah I know. But it's also true that if they tried to do the opposite of what they were told (or if they just refused) then they'd get fired. So what do you do?
Re: The tech sector might be evil
#18Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah, nothing is exactly what I've been doing so far. I'm just wondering if that's really the best I can do.
Well, that sort of begs the question: Why did you feel you could do anything in the first place? It sounds like a dopey question, but it's at the root of a lot of these feelings. I used to feel similarly to you: a general sense of malaise, a discomfort with the world, a plan for doing something concrete to change it. But everyone has limited ambition. If you don't focus it like a laser, you won't get anything done. T…
> Well, that sort of begs the question: Why did you feel you could do anything in the first place?
I don't know if I can... that's why I'm asking if I can. If feeling hopeless is the best I can do then so be it, but I'm thinking maybe people have had better success.
Re: The tech sector might be evil
#19What sucks is I can't just tell my friends "you're working for an evil company -- just look at {insert 5 evil things they did in the past couple years}". It sucks even more that these are some of the kindest and most caring people I know, with better moral character than myself -- I almost feel they somehow got brainwashed into their jobs. But who would enjoy hearing that? At best they would ignore it; at worst you'd…
Is every single job at those companies really making the world worse in a way that other jobs aren't? How about all the technologies and research that have come out of specific teams' work?
Search makes the world better, using search placement to drive competitors out of the market makes the world worse. So the same company could have both good and evil parts. The internal decision makers shape the overall alignment of the company.
Market can't fix that, especially when there are almost monopolistic positions. Regulations can. Maybe there are other ways but don't count on boycotts or things like that. See how much people is ready to give away for convenience (e.g. privacy.)
Re: The tech sector might be evil
#20Regulation and oversight is good. Continually reevaluating whether these companies are being good stewards of the information they hold is also good.
But I worry more about a heavy-handed overreaction than the present course we're on. In many ways it could be more dangerous to cripple or break up these companies: Fragmenting that data among smaller entities with weaker security is bad. Letting the vacuum (probably) be filled by state owned enterprises from regimes that don't value democracy, privacy or rights is very bad.
Yes, these companies could become an insurmountable runaway evil... but they have a long way to go to get there. The revolt would be even more intense if they were actually trying to do anything other than stay relevant. Which raises the final point... they will eventually stumble, get disrupted, dwindle. If they're going to die, let them die naturally -- don't be preemptive and destructive about it.
TLDR: let's hope for US vs Microsoft, not the break up of Bell Systems